Medical scientists with dual training in M.D. and Ph.D. programs provide an important bridge between basic research and its application to human disease. The M.D.-Ph.D. program at Tufts University began in 1979. Its goal are to provide the highest quality scientific and clinical training to students with outstanding research and academic potential. We seek to develop a ground of young physician-scientists with a creative approach toward the study of human disease. The combined degree program at Tufts University has graduated 13 M.D.-Ph.D.s who are now in academic or industrial positions. Twenty-seven students are currently enrolled in our M.D.-Ph.D. program. Strengths of the M.D.-Ph.D. program at Tufts include a highly dedicated, talented, and interactive faculty as well as the individual attention paid to each trainee. Students have easy access to the program director and to members of his executive Committee. A variety of special meetings for M.D.-Ph.D. students promotes student interactions with one another as well as with the M.D.-Ph.D. faculty.